Al Qaeda plans holiday attacks, officials say

TERRORISM

Lara Jakes and Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Associated Press

Published
4:00 am PST, Thursday, December 16, 2010

Iraqi authorities have obtained confessions from captured insurgents who claim al Qaeda is planning suicide attacks in the United States and Europe during the Christmas season, two senior officials said Wednesday.

A senior U.S. intelligence official confirmed the threat as credible.

Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani said the botched bombing in central Stockholm last weekend was among the alleged plots the insurgents revealed. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, in a telephone interview from New York, called the claims "a critical threat."

Both al-Bolani and Zebari said Iraq has informed Interpol of the alleged plots, and alerted authorities in the U.S. and European countries of the possible danger. Neither official specified which country or countries in Europe are alleged targets.

There was no way to verify the insurgents' claims. But Western counterterrorism officials generally are on high alert during the holiday season, especially since last year's failed attack by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who tried to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day.